MARCH CREW:

Ryan Rock is a 2012 graduate of Virginia Tech and a Maryland native. He has extensive field experience with avian studies and small mammals. His resume includes work as a field technician studying birds and insects in the Southeast, heavy trail construction with the US Forest Service, and service with the Human Society of Montgomery County, Virginia. He is excited to contribute to a conservation project in the American West and to gain new field experience with a diverse set of wildlife.

Colleen Ferris grew up on the brackish rivers of the Chesapeake Bay outside of Annapolis, Maryland. Early years spent exploring the coastal environment led to a curiosity and respect for the natural world. She went west to study at the University of Montana in Missoula and fell in love with the community, landscape and fauna of the Rockies. After graduation Colleen served as a Community Environmental Developer with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. After 27 months of environmental education, mangoes, and sunshine, Colleen has returned to the States to brave the cold of eastern Montana. Interested in conservation genetics, Colleen is most excited about applying non-invasive wildlife tracking methods to learn about populations on the Reserve.

Merrill Warren grew up near Auburn, California playing in the Sierra and the American River Canyon. She graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a B.A. in Anthropology. Following graduation she spent time living and traveling in Europe and the American West. Her recent summers have been spent working in the Sierra, on Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, AK, as an intern for the US Forest Service and on clean water projects in Zambia. Merrill is a two-time NOLS grad and an EMT. Currently, she is the intern for Adventure and Science for Conservation and lives in Bozeman. She is eager to contribute to data collection on the American Prairie Reserve and to play a role in such a huge conservation legacy.

Meet the rest of the crew after the break.

Beth Schadd is a Wisconsin native and currently lives in Boise, Idaho. Beth is an avid runner who has completed more than a dozen marathons. She holds dual master’s degrees in Natural Resources and Education and has worked in landscapes ranging from Inner Mongolia to Idaho’s Sawtooths and urban China. Her field experience includes research on bats and raptors as well as riparian restoration projects.

Tony Mancuoso is a recent graduate from Mansfield University with a B.S. in Geography and a minor in Geology. As an undergraduate he concentrated his degree on outdoor recreation leadership. His passions lie in adventure. Tony grew up backpacking through the hardwood forests of Eastern Pennsylvania and now enjoys whitewater paddling, climbing, and backpacking. For the past two years he worked as a raft guide and trip leader on the Lehigh River. He loves learning to understand new places and this past summer completed a backpacking tour through the Mojave, Sonoran, and Great Basin deserts that culminated in a successful summit of Mt. Whitney. Tony’s professional ambition is to learn as much as he can about how the Earth works, and then spread the word to as many people as possible.

Cayley Faurot-Daniels grew up on the central coast of California and received a B.S degree in Biology with a concentration in Field and Wildlife from Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo. An appreciation for nature was instilled in her at an early age with summers spent on the Big Sur coast and in the high country of the Sierras, and she is thrilled that her work now continues to feed her love of the outdoors. She has become a field work enthusiast, working on projects ranging from kangaroo rats to grizzly bears and sea otters to amphibians. Work in Glacier NP brought Cayley out to Montana in 2011, and she has since worked in Yellowstone near Grand Teton National Parks as well. She is looking forward to exploring the prairie and observing and tracking all of the wildlife it has to offer.

Landmark is the groundbreaking project that ASC has undertaken in conjunction with American Prairie Reserve (APR) to provide "boots on the ground" support for the conservation management team at APR. Landmark crews consist of six highly motivated and skilled outdoors men and women who will leave and work on the Reserve for a month at a time, collecting valuable data that will directly influence conservation management on APR. Find out more about Landmark and apply for a crew position. Keep up with ASC by subscribing to ASC's blog, liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter (@AdventurScience), Instagram (@AdventureScience) and Google+.